Who's Who in time travel

Christopher Eccleston has been named by the BBC as the new Doctor Who to front the cult science-fiction television series when it returns next year.

Eccleston, who starred alongside Nicole Kidman in the horror movie The Others, will be the ninth TV Time Lord to control the Tardis in a 13-part series.

"It signals our intention to take Doctor Who into the 21st century, as well as retaining its core traditional values - to be surprising, edgy and eccentric," executive producer and writer Russell T Davies said.

British-born Eccleston, 40, shot to fame with Let Him Have It for his portrayal of Derek Bentley, a mentally retarded British man who was hanged in the 1950s for a murder he did not commit.

Eccleston was snapped up by Hollywood for Shallow Grave and has starred in British TV series such as The Second Coming.

The hugely-popular Doctor Who show ran for 26 years from 1963. The new series will be filmed in Cardiff later this year.